Are Your Pets Vegan? Experts Warn Their Lives Might Be in Danger

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Some pet owners have opted for the vegan diet for their beloved animal companions thinking that this may be the more "humane" choice, not to mention healthier. But, according to some experts, this practice could only pose a lot of harm to the poor unknowing pets without their owners realizing it.

Although, it is possible for cats and dogs to make do with the vegetarian diet, there is a greater chance that these kinds of food could be life-threatening for them, the Daily Mail wrote.

Daniel Chan, professor of emergency and critical care medicine and clinical nutrition at the Royal Veterinary College, said that since these meat-free foods for animals are not regulated enough, you cannot tell for sure whether they can provide the necessary requirements in order for the pets to survive.

For instance, if pets were to be fed completely of these unsuitable vegetarian foods, it can lead to blindness, brain damage and even death for cats, while dogs can suffer from heart problems, stunted muscle growth, skin problems and general lethargy.

The Sunday Times also noted that more and more pet owners are going meat-free with the sales of these vegetarian pet foods steadily increasing by up to 25 percent every year.

"In the case of dogs, if someone is determined to do it, it's theoretically possible but it is much easier to get it wrong than to get it right and owners would need to take expert advice," according to Gudrun Ravetz, junior vice-president of the British Veterinary Association.

"You can't realistically feed cats a vegetarian diet because it is so difficult to deliver what they need without meat that the risk is too high."

Damian Eadie, who is one of those running a vegetarian pet food business, shared that he has received death threats for offering the vegan cat food in his shop RunsVegeco. But, according to him, they make sure that their products won't pose any health risk to the pets and he even said that they were able to meet European standards. Their vegan food includes taurine, which is an amino acid that prevents blindness and certain kinds of heart disease, according to Star Daily Standard Times report.

"Our customers are very vocal and will complain if their delivery is even a couple of hours late, so believe me we would hear all about it if our food was causing their animals health problems," Mr. Eadie said.